Crude prices are set to rise from current "very low" levels that are hurting producers, Iraq's oil minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said after a meeting of Arab petroleum-exporting nations.

Abdul Mahdi, whose country is the second-biggest producer in OPEC, didn't forecast when prices would rebound from an almost seven-year low for Brent, the benchmark for more than half of the world's oil.

Qatar's energy minister Mohammed Al Sada told reporters before the meeting in Cairo there was no need to be pessimistic about prices.

"There is no doubt that oil prices will rebound," Abdul Mahdi told reporters after the meeting of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"This current level is too low, and it's affecting oil producers. I think economic factors and fundamentals are still strong."